Was lange währt, wird endlich gut? Zur dezentralen Umsetzung der Aarhus-Konvention in Österreich journal article Birgit Hollaus Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 17 (2019), Issue 2, Page 169 - 184 The implementation of the Aarhus Convention’s guarantees concerning public participation and access to justice has been far from straight-forward in rights-based legal systems. For Austria, the weaknesses and deficits of the way it implemented this Convention were repeatedly highlighted by both the Aarhus treaty bodies and the European Commission. However, only after the recent findings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Protect case did the Austrian legislator take further steps to implement the Convention’s guarantees within the domestic legal system. The present contribution looks at these legislative efforts and assesses them in view of the Convention. It concludes that while the new laws have brought some positive changes, the Austrian legislator has missed the opportunity to finally give full effect to the Aarhus Convention.
Das Opt-out vom GVO-Anbau: Die Lösung aller Probleme? journal article Birgit Hollaus Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, Volume 14 (2016), Issue 2, Page 131 - 143 From the very beginning, the EU authorisation process for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been running anything but smoothly. To solve one of the issues, EU law has recently introduced an opt-out-possibility regarding the authorisation for the cultivation of GMOs. Member states pursing a rather restrictive approach towards GMOs, such as Austria, have welcomed this change in law. However, several underlying issues regarding GMO authorisation are still of concern. In taking a problem-based approach, this article aims to demonstrate the potential of the opt-out to restore the functioning of GMO authorisation at EU level. Thus, the article looks at the opt-out as provided for in EU law and its implementation at Member State level; Austria is serving as an example for this exercise, given its active role in pushing for this change in law and its objective to make use of the opt-out as far as possible. The insights gained allow drawing conclusions on what issues in relation to GMOs at EU level are still to be resolved.
Ausnahmen und Abweichungen von Zielen der Raumordnung – Effektive Instrumente eines neuen „Deutschlandtempos“? Martin Beckmann
